State mental health policy: implementation of computerized medication prescribing algorithms in a community mental health system

Psychiatr Serv. 2009 Aug;60(8):1010-2. doi: 10.1176/ps.2009.60.8.1010.

Abstract

This column describes a Michigan initiative to implement medication prescribing algorithms for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. The algorithms were incorporated into the electronic medical records system of a four-county community mental health system. Guideline adherence of 30 providers who treated nearly 3,000 patients was measured at mid- and endpoints of the first year. They were adherent for about a third of their patients in the first six months (32%) and more than half in the second (52%). Scores on scales measuring providers' perceptions of algorithm ease of use and usefulness were in the midrange at both time points.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Community Mental Health Services*
  • Diffusion of Innovation*
  • Humans
  • Medical Order Entry Systems*
  • Mental Disorders / drug therapy*
  • Michigan
  • Organizational Case Studies
  • Policy Making*
  • State Government*
  • United States